Environmental Management Systems and Impact Assessment Fundamentals

Posted on Sep 22, 2025 in International Business Economics

Environmental Management Objectives

  • Reduce our footprint in different ecosystems to the minimum.
  • Increase the possibilities of survival for all species.

Main Application Areas

  • Preventive Area: Focused on Environmental Impact Assessments.
  • Corrective Area: Utilizes Environmental Audits, aligned with EMAS and ISO 14001, as methodologies for analyzing and correcting existing problems.

Steps in Environmental Impact Assessment

  1. Analysis of the project and its actions.
  2. Analysis of alternatives.
  3. Identification of actions capable of producing impacts.
  4. Identification of factors in the environment susceptible to suffer impacts.

Key Definitions

Environmental Impact: Any change that has happened in the environment, whether positive or negative, totally or partially resulting from activities, products, or services of an organization.

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA): The formal process used to predict the environmental consequences (positive or negative) of a plan, policy, program, or project prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action.

EIA: A Preventive Instrument

  • Required by regulations.
  • Evaluates the potential effects produced by a new installation.
  • Regulated by national, regional, or local regulations.

Environmental Audit: A Corrective Instrument

  • Voluntary process.
  • Carried out in existing installations.
  • Flexible tool.

Understanding Environmental Impact Matrices

A matrix is a grid-like table used to identify the interaction between project activities, which are displayed along one axis, and environmental characteristics, which are displayed along the other axis. Using the table, environment-activity interactions can be noted in the appropriate cells or intersecting points in the grid. Entries are made in the cells to highlight impact severity or other features related to the nature of the impact. For instance:

  • Ticks or symbols can pictorially identify impact type (such as direct, indirect, cumulative).
  • Numbers or a range of dot sizes can indicate scale.
  • Descriptive comments can be made.

An early, well-known example is the Leopold interaction matrix. This is a comprehensive matrix, which has 88 environmental characteristics along the top axis and 100 project actions in the left-hand column. Potential impacts are marked with a diagonal line in the appropriate cell, and a numerical value can be assigned to indicate their magnitude and importance. Use of the Leopold matrix is less common than its adaptation to develop other, less complex matrices.

Environmental Management System (EMS)

An EMS is a voluntary instrument addressed to companies or organizations aiming at reaching a high level of environmental protection within the framework of sustainable development. An environmental management system is built upon environmental actions and management tools. These actions interact to achieve a clear objective: environmental protection.

ISO 14001 Definition of EMS

Part of the overall management system, which includes organizational structure, planning activities, responsibilities, practices, procedures, processes, and resources for developing, implementing, achieving, and maintaining the environmental policy.

Basic Elements of an EMS

  • Reviewing the company’s environmental goals.
  • Analyzing its environmental impacts and legal requirements.
  • Setting environmental objectives and targets to reduce environmental impacts and comply with legal requirements.
  • Establishing programs to meet these objectives and targets.
  • Monitoring and measuring progress in achieving the objectives.
  • Ensuring employees’ environmental awareness and competence.
  • Reviewing progress of the EMS and making improvements.

Environmental Responsibilities and Liabilities

An increase in environmental responsibilities can lead to various types of liabilities:

Administrative Responsibilities

  • Obligation to comply with regulations.
  • Economic penalties and other consequences.
  • The company can appeal.

Civil Responsibilities

  • Obligation to repair damages.
  • Illicit actions, or strict liability.
  • Can be covered by insurance companies.

Penal Responsibilities

  • Can be considered an offense under the Penal Code.
  • Environmental crime.
  • The responsible party is the individual, not the company.